Speaker Suggestions

Jeff Joseph's Pearls blew me away at RMAF years ago and I've totally loved the wonderful sound, detailed with tone and body, that he gets from all his speakers. I also like Borresen, TAD, Tidal and Rockport. I just got dumb-lucky to buy two used Raidho D2s for mains in my audio room. I'd be happy with any of the others above as well.

Before the Raidhos I owned Dynaudio Sapphires for five years but the D2s bested them in every single way except sheer volume output. I remember loving the Pulsars as well the first time I hear them, very exceptional!

There are some very great speakers lower priced that serve up a bit more value for the dollar, but there seems to be some magic hiding in the diminishing returns...

If you like the sound of the Pulsars, with good reason IMHO, I think going with a Pulsar for a center speaker would be pretty optimal.  I think using Pulsars for surrounds is complete overkill unless you have $$$ to burn.  You could use Prisms, but I think you could get by fine with budget monitors from Silverline or other decent  monitor with a silk-dome tweeter.  Frankly, I’d do that and add two good subs that’ll probably do more than anything else to up your enjoyment of both music and movies.  I don’t think you’d like the B&Ws — if you like JA they’ll sound a little sterile and lifeless by comparison, kinda like Revel.  Just my $0.02 FWIW. 

Ohm Walsh's for front and rears! 3-D room-filling sound regardless of listening spot!

My suggestion would be to contact Greg Belman from Bache Audio and arrange a demo. I have been living with the Tribeca’s for just over 2 years and I’m enjoying my music more than ever. It’s a big, holographic, smooth sound that’s very coherent and not analytical. I have had great success with both tubes and solid state. They are easy to drive and fairly efficient.

Have a look at the GoldenEar Triton Reference.  Well within you price range and a very nice speaker.  And if you call the company in the early morning there's a very good chance you will get the head designer answering the phone.  

To be fair, anytime you get a speaker maker to talk to you directly that’s a pretty responsive person! Try getting the head of B&W or Bose on the phone, or to answer your e-mail.

Still, Frits is a brand in the 2-way speakers that you should consider. Amazing value, and a setup with 5 of them won’t set you back far.